Forum rules in favour of telecom company for increasing credit limit

Maria G Durairaj, senior citizen from Porvorim,
approached the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum North Goa, complaining against
Vodafone Idea Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd. Durairaj in her complaint stated that she was
a subscriber of the both the cellular companies and had availed international
roaming facility from them upon depositing a security deposit of Rs 18,000 only
for credit facility.

It was her case that despite the bills being within limit
of Rs 18000 per month she was informed that there was unbilled amount of Rs
21,607 in addition to the Rs 18000 and if not paid the services would be
discontinued. The senior citizen from Porvorim alleged that it was further shown
as Rs 1,37,500 and this increase in the credit limit, which she claimed was not
within her knowledge of the complainant. She further claimed that upon
inquiring with the opposing party she was provided with the internet usage
indicating that she is billed for Rs 75,725 airtime units for the period of
seven days in Sri Lanka and the tariff rate applied is Rs one per air time
unit.

Durairaj claimed that she was unaware as to what is the
air time unit and only knew that the talk time is measured in seconds and
minutes and data is measured in kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes. Finally in
her complaint the Porvorim resident claimed that the cellular company charged
an amount of Rs 75,727 exorbitantly and the billing based on air time unit is
wrong.

The cellular company could not increase the credit limit
without her consent and the cellular company was wrong in not informing her
about data package tariff in GB. The notice of the complaint was served to the
cellular companies and thereafter the company filed its defense and disputed
the case.

The members of Forum upon hearing the counsel on behalf
of all parties and taking note of the documents held that the cellular company
was not liable for deficiency in service. The Forum observed that, “The
complainant failed to show any violation of any statutory rule or regulation by
which the opposing parties were barred from unilaterally increasing the credit
limit without the consent of the complainant.”

The Forum further observed that increasing the credit limit
has not caused any harm to the to Durairaj.
On the contrary she was able to enjoy the post paid services provided by
the cellular company i.e. talk time and data during the travel period in Sri
Lanka. The Forum further observed that “it is evident that the complainant did
not inform the opposing party on travel
to Sri Lanka and neither availed any international roaming pack. The
complainant therefore cannot make any grievance against the opposing party that
he was not informed about 3GB data pack of Rs 5,999 for 30 days before
travelling to Srilanka”

The Forum finally held that Durairaj failed to
substantiate and establish with documentary evidence the allegations of
charging exorbitantly by the cellular companies.